Pictures of a Lifetime
by MusesatMidnight
Summary: Sasuke's been gone for years and Sakura still hasn't abandoned him, then she goes to the Uchiha grounds and stumbles across something... Sasuke is slightly OC at the end but...


Ummm I was listening to these two songs and then the idea sprang into my head. It's taken me three hours and 5 minutes but I'm satisfied.

Pictures of You- The last goodnight  
Samson (My sweetest downfall)- Regina Spektor

A/N: I do not the above songs nor do I own Naruto, I wouldn't mind owning Kakashi though, however I do not.

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**Pictures of a Lifetime**

She sat on the wooden flooring of a large room and gazed wondrously at the treasure's she had found upon entering Sasuke's home. Photographs, paintings and sketches were scattered over the floor, overlapping each other there were so many. Different types of paper, aged and wizened pieces, priceless portraits of old long gone Uchihas.  
Sakura hadn't deliberately broken into the Uchiha compound, but now she knew that even if what she had done, was doing and the ideas that she was going to do were wrong, she was going to do them all anyway, stuff the law and anybody fool enough to get in her way.  
The first time she had entered the compound was when Sasuke had left the village, the day after to be precise. Sakura had gone there to see if he really had left the village, left her. She had stumbled mindlessly through the complex path of buildings until she had reached the main Uchiha house, the home of Sasuke. After that she had done nothing but stare at the building for several hours, wild thoughts running through her head; _was it her fault? Should she have tried to knock Sasuke out and bring him in front of Tsunade? Did he care for her, Naruto and Kakashi or had that all been pretend? _Then Sakura had simply walked back through the compound and returned home, listless and empty.  
The next time she returned to his house had been after a particularly brutal mission. The team had been lucky to return alive and they had found no traces of Sasuke anywhere even though they had been through three different countries in order to accomplish their mission. Sakura had been to the hospital had her wounds treated and then had gone into surgery with Tsunade in order to save Naruto's life. The foolish fox boy had gotten carried away when Sakura had been slammed through a mountain and had pushed himself even to his own limits. After stabilising the foolish boy and ensuring that he would live, Sakura had found herself walking through the Uchiha compound, contemplating once again. This had been several years after Sasuke's departure and Sakura had grown wiser and stronger and of course more beautiful. Although Sasuke's departure had shattered her, Sakura had kept on fighting until she was almost as strong as Tsunade and her medical skills had far since surpassed the legendary Sannin's. Again Sakura had only walked through the Uchiha houses, simply looking, not touching, leaving those to rest in peace if, any spirits of the fallen Uchiha clan remained. Then she left the compound once again.

This time however Sakura had gone into the main Uchiha house and wandered through it, looking fondly at the homely surroundings. The she had stumbled upon the room. It was a huge room right at the back corner of the house, wooden floorboards shone dully in the sunlight that Sakura had brought with her when she had flung the doors of the abandoned house wide open in an effort to allow the bad things that had happened in the house to flee into the sun and freedom. The room was bare, except for the centre of the room, where there was a large pile of something covered in white sheets. Sakura was torn between curiosity and a sense of trespassing but finally curiosity won and she slipped into the room, sliding the door shut behind her. Then on bare feet she padded to the large mound, whilst reaching one tentative hand out to the dust laden sheet. Upon arriving at the large shape she hesitated. And then she pulled the sheets from the pile in one swift motion. Dust flew into the air and the sheets flew over Sakura's head flowing smoothly past her long pink hair, stirring strands into the air.  
A gasp escaped the woman and she strode over to the large single window of the room and flung back the shutters in one fluid motion. Once more sunlight streamed into the room and sparkled in the dust particles floating gently through the air on an unseen breeze. Sakura turned her attention once more to the large pile in the centre of the room. Pictures. Photographs. Memories. People. Moments frozen in time lay heaped in the centre of the room. Sakura paced forward once more and began to take the photos and pictures from there disgraceful state and laid them on the floor after studying each one. It was early morning when she began her task and by the time she finished, just as the sun began to sink into the earth, she discovered she was sat in the centre of the room where the pile had once been, surrounded by photos and pictures of the Uchiha clan, right back to the first Uchiha.  
Sakura sat in the centre of the room and simply looked, and was looked upon. She knew now why she had, had a strong desire to enter this room in particular. The sensation had been like a person crying or in pain and she had been unable to leave. Now however the feeling had subsided and Sakura stood up and used a transportation jutsu to appear outside the room without dislodging any of the memories she had laid on the floor.  
She vowed to return tomorrow to the Uchiha compound and began the therapeutic work that she had decided to begin.

The next morning Sakura had returned to the Uchiha compound and had entered the house furthest away from the main house and had gathered up as many picture frames as she could find. She then returned to the main house and stacked the frames in the family room of the main house. Sakura repeated this process with all the houses in the district which had belonged to the Uchiha's. As she had gone through each house she had noted that all of the belongings of each residence had simply been left as they had been on the day of their owner's death, however Sakura had seen no blood in any of the houses, which meant they had cleaned up the blood of the fallen and for that Sakura was grateful. Although she was a medic and used to gruesome sights, she had no desire to see the blood remaining from a massacre.  
Sakura's speed had increased greatly in the years since Sasuke's departure and so the collection of all the photo frames in the vicinity only took her until midday. She had then gone to the hospital to check on her daft friend and make sure he wasn't causing trouble for Tsunade or his girlfriend Hinata. Having satisfied herself that the childish man would be fine and hadn't caused Hinata to faint, Sakura returned to her apartment and collected old cloths and lanterns. She then stole her way back to the Uchiha house.

Sakura stayed up all through the night cleaning the frames she had collected and at around two a.m. she returned back to her apartment and flopped into bed tired but content. She slept well for the first time since Sasuke's departure and her dreams were uninterrupted until midday when she woke, feeling well rested and peaceful. After showering and eating Sakura ran to the hospital to do her four hour shift, which was the shortest shift she had ever done since she had become a medic-nin. As soon as her shift ended Sakura finished her business with her last patient and ran to the nearest hardware store where she bought some nails and a small hammer. Then the moment it was dark she hurried through the village until she reached the main house once again.

Sakura began to sort the photos, paintings and sketches into some semblance of order. It had taken her a mere two hours as she was used to working for Tsunade who couldn't organise anything apart from when she would have sake and when she would go gambling. Although Sakura was interested in all the people featured in the different scenes and portraits, she had to admit that it was the last and most modern pile of memories that caused her green eyes to light up and sparkle like two pieces of Uvarovite Drusy, a rare gemstone. However she put aside her glee and began the arduous task of putting each scene into a suitable frame and placing them on the walls in chronological order. This task took Sakura many nights and a whole month had passed before she reached the last set of preserved memories.

After she had finally placed all of Sasuke's memories in photo frames, Sakura noticed that it was close to morning and she had her shift to do at the hospital. She could feel her body swaying with weariness. Lately all she could think about when she wasn't working was finishing the room. She knew it was imperative that she finished the photos before the end of the week, but she didn't know why, all she knew was that every time she felt like resting some force made her push on and wouldn't leave her until it was time for her shift or for a meal. Sakura hadn't slept for several days and was beginning to feel the effects. Still she went to the hospital and worked from nine till five with only one break for lunch.  
As she made her way back to the Uchiha compound she thought back to her most mysterious patients and to the way her mentor had been acting. There was no doubt about it, Tsunade was up to something, however Sakura just couldn't find it in herself to confront her mentor about the strange patients she had been forced to deal with, the loud-mouthed red head, the huge but silent giant and the strange guy with purple eyes... Sakura soon forgot about the strange people who obviously weren't Konoha ninja when the main house came into sight. In the past two months Sakura had probably spent more time within those walls then she had ever spent in her own apartment. There were only a few pictures left to hang on the wall. The family picture of Sasuke and his parents and a picture of Sasuke at his first day of school were the last two photographs to be hung up. Sakura stumbled wearily to the doorway and looked in surveying her work. From right to left it was the Uchiha history, the first Uchiha next to the doorpost on Sakura's right side and going all the way round the room anticlockwise until she reached a picture of Sasuke and Itachi. However, there was still a largish gap in the college of photos and Sakura knew exactly which picture she would place there.

When Sasuke had left the village all the belongings from his apartment had been placed in bags, examined by ANBU and chakra experts and then had finally been dumped back in the main house in the family room. Sakura slowly left the room of memories and fell wearily through the halls of the house until she reached the family room. Having spent almost all her time in the house recently, Sakura knew her way to all the rooms and could have done it with her eyes closed, but she forced her dull, tired eyes to stay open as she withdrew from the ANBU bag the last captured memory residing in Konoha of Sasuke Uchiha. She clasped the photo of Team seven to her chest with her left hand and leaned against the walls of the house with her right as she made her way back to the room of memories.  
Sakura stumbled several times and fell once until it was only sheer determination keeping her going. She reached the room and slipped inside, turning to the empty space on the wall which was the perfect size for the picture of her and her three boys. As she hung the photo on the nail which she had driven into the wall earlier she felt a great rush as the feeling that had plagued her for several years, but most persistently in the past two months left her.  
Sakura fell to her knees and looked up at the photo of Team 7, tears streaming down her face as she smiled sweetly. Then exhaustion caught up with her and she slumped to the floor, her hair fanning out around her head on the floor. As she slept Sakura was watched over by all the long gone members of the Uchiha clan.

Earlier that day, in the early hours of the morning when Sakura was just about finished with the pictures, Sasuke Uchiha had returned to Konoha with his team, Taka. The last Uchiha had simply strolled into the village as the guards began yelling and shouting and thrusting swords in his face. None of the commotion affected the Uchiha however and he simply walked past them, followed by the three members of his team. Upon reaching the Hokage's tower, Sasuke turned and spoke to the ninja following them and demanded to see the Hokage. Several hours later the team had been sent to the hospital after a long talk with Tsunade, and their wounds were treated. The whole time Sasuke sat in the hospital waiting for his team, he looked for a certain pink-haired kunoichi however the fates were not with him, and the person who he saw was Naruto.  
The two men stared each other for several minutes and almost all activity ceased in the waiting area as the occupants turned their attention to the two men. After several minutes Naruto flew at Sasuke and landed a punch on his jaw bone, the then fox proceeded to squeeze the life out of his best friend. After exchanging words the two men began to talk about recent events and Sasuke learned that Sakura had been pushing herself really hard recently and nobody had any idea why. Naruto told Sasuke that Sakura had been disappearing at night and not even an ANBU team or Akamaru could track her. Sasuke felt a growing concern and began to get impatient, one thing Uchiha's were not supposed to do. Naruto continued to talk and finally managed to retrieve the information from the stoic Uchiha that Itachi was dead and that Sasuke was no longer perceived to be a threat to the village, however he was to remain in the village for at least six months until the Bingo book was updated.

After being forced to Ichiraku's with Naruto, Sasuke began to head into the Uchiha grounds as his apartment had been sold and he had nowhere else to live as he certainly wasn't living with Naruto. Sasuke noticed that the path to the main house was more worn than any of the other paths on the road, weeds that had been growing between the cobbles had risen to ankle height on the other paths, but those on the street to the main house were lower and trodden down. Sasuke approached the place of his childhood cautiously, suspecting an attack however he was surprised to see a lit lantern hanging outside the doorway. The last Uchiha entered his own home and began to walk through the familiar hallways which had seemed so large the last time he had walked through them. He came to the final room in the house and noticed that the sliding door was open slightly and a small sliver of golden candlelight was falling through.  
He gently slid the door back and when his eyes fell upon the pink hair his breath caught in his throat. He rushed to her side and cradled her in his arms, supporting her head on his shoulder. Sasuke noticed the deep bags under her eyes but then he noticed that she had grown into a fine woman. Her hair had grown out again since the last time he had seen her and she had filled out in other areas. Sasuke stood cradling her to his chest and his eyes finally raised to the walls and again the Uchiha was lost for words and he felt his breath choking him once again. As he drew in a deep breath he noticed movement from the petite frame cradled in his arms.

He looked down into two chips of green malachite, and then her hand reached up to his cheek in a gently caress. Sasuke Uchiha, Ice Prince of the Fire Country, closed his eyes and leaned into the gentle touch of Sakura.

"You came back." Sakura said, her voice hoarse

"Aa. And I'm never leaving you again." Sasuke said huskily as he opened his eyes. "Did you do this, Sakura?"

"Aa. I needed to reach you so I came to your house and then I kept coming back, as if something was calling me, and then the pictures wanted me to put them up." Sakura smiled sweetly up at Sasuke.

Sasuke Uchiha was lost for words.

"Sasuke-kun?" With those words Sasuke swooped down and pressed his lips tenderly to Sakura's. Her eyes widened and then she closed them, enjoying the first kiss of many...

One year later there was a new picture on the wall of the last Uchiha sitting on the grass under a cherry tree, cradling Sakura Haruno whose belly was slightly rounded, gold rings sparkling in the sun on the fourth finger...

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Hope you liked it. Please Review

Love Ryua


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